


It's The Way I Love You

by glowwithskz



Category: K-pop, Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-17
Updated: 2020-12-21
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:41:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 14
Words: 4,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27611522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glowwithskz/pseuds/glowwithskz
Summary: Y/N is a new producer and sometimes choreographer at JYP ent. specifically for ITZY. As Y/N works there she starts to feel happy and fulfilled for the first time in their life and develops relationships with her coworkers. Maybe even romantic ones...?
Relationships: Bang Chan/Reader
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	1. Self reflection

Today is the day where you start a whole new chapter of my life. Youhave a new job, the job of my dreams. You actually got a job at JYP entertainment as a producer and choreographer. You are finally putting your skills to good use. It's currently 5 am, and you're doing your makeup and you stare at yourself in the mirror, instantly remembering how hard it was for you to actually have this life.

Flashback (in first person):

All my life I have dreamed of becoming an idol, I took dance and vocal lessons at a young age in hope that I would acheive my dream one day. I cant explain it, but the rush and adrenaline that i feel while being on stage, is all I want to feel. The problem was, my parents didn't approve of my dream, and I missed audition opportunities in korea. But my desire pushed myself to prove to them that I could acheive it. In middle school, I performed at the school talent show and won first place every time. The downside to this was that my parents got even more stubborn seeing that I have star quality, and on top of that, since I would perform kpop dances and songs, I would get bullied and teased by my classmates. But by the time high school arrived, I stopped caring about the bullies and became more confident. At sophmore year (16 years old), I managed to make a deal with my parents that I would audition for CUBE ent. and If i didn't pass, I would give up my dreams and become a doctor. Jokes on them because I PASSED. I stayed training with the future (G)-IDLE members for five years until 2018. This is where I met my best friend, Sua. The debut lineup was announced, long story short, my name wasn't announced. And you know why? Because I wasn't pretty enough. I felt like my heart was ripped out of my chest, all my hard work down the drain. 

My dance teacher at CUBE thought the whole thing was unfair, and gave me her recommendation to use for future jobs. Her recommendation is why I got into JYPE.


	2. Meeting Him

Back to Third Person:

You finish your makeup and you get dressed. Since your apartment building is conveniently close to the JYPE building, It takes around 5 minutes to get there. you go through the revolving doors and go up to the front desk to finally get what you've been waiting for. The lady at the front desk hands you the JYPE staff ID card! Your dream feels like a reality.

Your new studio is on the fifth floor so you make your way towards the elevator, and as you're walking to the elevator, you see a three boys walking in the same direction as you. You reluctantly press the up button on the elevator, and you realize that the boys behind me are going to use the same elevator as me, so you quickly jam the "open elevator door" , and the boys say hello/thank you as they enter. There's an awkward aura in the elevator, and you ask them what floor they're going to. They respond with "the fifth floor". You respond with "really?!, I'm going there too, are you guys producers too"? The one with the gray colored hair says "you don't know us?, we're 3racha, the sub unit for the idol group stray kids". You flush in embarrassment, because the reason you were'nt aware of them was because you kind of dissconnected yourself from the world of kpop after not making your debut. To break the ice, you timidly say "what are your names", the one with the gray hair is Bang Chan (not to be confused with side dish), the shorter one with the sharp chin is Changbin, and the younger one with the round face is Jisung.

The elevator bell rings, and you leave the elevator and bow to them. As you're walking down the hallway, Chan turns around and says "wait, we didn't catch your name" and you say "my name is Y/N".


	3. The Members

You think to yourself, "that guy Chan looks pretty handsome, ahh what are you thinking, this is a workplace, you cant go and having crushes in the building" or so you thought. 

You arrive at the studio and open the door to reveal a gray painted studio, with a wall sticking out in the middle. You feel so happy to be working in a darker environment, since dark colors brings you comfort. Your phone rings, the caller is JYP. Turns out JYP was telling you to make a song that would fit an "I love myself, girl/teen crush concept" . Interesting concept, you thought to yourself, JYPE has never had a girl group debuting with that type of concept. The pressure is on me, "Let's do This!", you say internally. You finish the tracks,and email it to JYP. A few minutes of heart beating suspense, he replies with "great songs, what are you thinking of naming the title track?" You replied with, " I was thinking of naming it 달라 달라 (DALLA DALLA), because it shows how it is okay to be different". JYP says "great choice, it fits really well, all you have to do now is record the song and come up with the choreography".

[Lunch Time]

Its currently 11:30 am and you're starving, you've been wanting to taste that delicious organic food for as long as you can imagine. You take the elevator down, and walk to the JYP BOB and realize that the cafeteria looks better than some cafes. You happily walk over to serve, tteokbokki, meat, rice, some kimchi to your tray and walk over to an empty table. You savor the spiciness of the tteokbokki and kimchi in your mouth, with this type of food, you'd be willing to work everyday. You hear more voices enter, you turn around to see the three boys from last time along with 6 other other boys, who you assumed were the rest of Stray Kids. 

5 minutes pass, and you see them walking over to your table. You look at them in confusion, wondering why out of all the empty tables, they would pick to sit with you. You say hello to them as they sit down. They introduce themselves. You make eye contact with Chan, and he asks you, "the company usually does'nt hire choreographers at your age, you must be really talented, right?" He smiles as he finishes his sentence. You blush in response and smile to yourself since your self esteem was pretty low these days. You really needed a compliment like that. "yeah, I think so, thank you" you respond with.


	4. Nostalgia

Changbin asks you " I heard rumors that a new producer, finished a title track in a few hours. with the approval of Park Jin-young PD nim, that was you, right?" You say "yeah, that was me" flushing, with the endless compliments. The boys seem to be interested about you since you seem really talented. 

You felt like there was an elephant in the room, something you felt you needed to address, like your past. They were still wondering how you, a 20 year old would get hired to choreograph and produce for a group than a person with more experience in the entertainment industry. And on top of that choreographers at JYPE are required to have at least a dance minor degree at a university.

Before you could say anything, the boys said that they need to go to practice dance, as they say goodbye to you and head out. 

[Itzy's Dalla Dalla Choreography]

You spend two hours trying to figure out the choreography and formations, and finally, you have it. Itzy members come in and introduce themselves as Yeji (leader), Lia, Ryujin, Chaeryoung, and Yuna. As you teach them the dance moves, you get nostalgia of teaching the younger trainees the dances all those years ago at cube, it was a good feeling. You were'nt suprised that it look no more than an hour to teach them, after all, JYPE specializes in dance. When they're resting and ready to go home you hand them some rice cakes. They smile at you in joy and come and hug you.


	5. Sua

[Background Information]

I met Sua in the audition for Cube, she was in front of me in the line, and was visibly panicking. Her turn was almost next, I couldn't bear to see somebody like that. So I comforted her by saying "hey, its okay" as I hug her, "you can do it!, believe in yourself, be confident!" I said with a big smile on my face. Sua then composed herself, took a deep breath, and passed the audition like a boss. At the end of the audition we saw each other outside of the venue, introduced ourselves, and became friends. We also shared dorms along with the other CUBE trainees. We were there for each other through the dark times and shared happiness during the light. But when we were eliminated, at least we had each other.

[Present day]

You walked home from a very exciting day at JYPE. You punch in the code to your shared apartment with Sua, and enter. You see Sua's sneakers and bag beside the door, signaling that she's already back home. Sua is a dance teacher at a dance studio that specializes in aspiring children/teens who want to become idols. Since the dance studio is famous for teaching many celebrities, her pay is really good. Although you feel bad for not being able to pay for the few months rent, you hope to pay these upcoming months rent with your upcoming paycheck.

You and Sua talk together while eating dinner,and Sua asks you "have you seen any celebrities?" You chuckle at Sua's sudden question and respond with "yeah, I saw and chatted with the JYP's new boygroup Stray Kids. I felt bad because I didnt know who they were at first" you say with an awkward laugh. Sua responds with "What are you talking about? We've heard one of thier songs" "really?! what song?" you respond, curiously. "Hellevator, you know the one that gave us comfort and security during our final monthly evaluation?" "oh yeah! that song is a masterpiece, I can't believe they wrote such a good song before even debuting" you say. Sua ends the conversation by saying. "they're probably going to dominate this new generation of kpop, in my opinion" Sua says as she sips her tea. You nod in approval at Sua's opinion. "I should probably tell Chan that I heard Hellevator during training and that the song really helped me and Sua" you were thinking. One lyric in particular stuck to you: "Though I reach out my hand, there's nobody to hold it", you felt lonely at that time, because years have passed and you were unsure if you were going to debut. But you realize somebody was always there for you and you were always there for them. That person was Sua.


	6. His Beauty

[Next day]

You enter your studio to get your things and get ready to record the song with the itzy members and JYP. You walk down the hallway to the recording studio, as you walk it seems like the stray kids recording studio is only a door away. You don't mean to look in, but you see Chan sitting infront of a laptop, concentrating in arranging the song. You can't lie, but Chan looks really attractive when he's focused on work, you're mesmerized by his good looks. You snap out of it, remembering that you're supposed to be working now, as you continue walking down the hallway, your face blushing and your heart thumping.

You finally arrive at your assigned recording studio and a few minutes later, the itzy members show up along with JYP himself. It takes you at least an hour to figure out the line distribution and 2 hours (or more) to record. Since Dalla Dalla is in a higher pitch, you notice that Lia and Yeji have more deeper/soulful voices and you're surprised that they have a really good vocal range. After all the members finish recording and you thank JYP for coming, you spend 2-3 more hours arranging the song. You check the clock and its 10pm, already time for you to leave. You seem to be one of the last people in the building. As you head out the revolving doors, you hear a voice call out your name. You turn around and Chan catches up to you. He asked if it was okay to walk together since it is really late at night and it's dangerous for you to be walking alone. 

You say "yeah, of course" with a smile.

"Oh, actually, I've been meaning to tell you this" you say as Chan quickly diverts all his attention to you.

"I've actually heard your song 'hellevator' back in 2017, but I didn't know which group it was. I just wanted to say that 'hellevator' helped me mentally during my trainee days and gave me hope, and I want to thank 3racha for writing such an amazing song"

As you say this, Chan can see that you're really genuine with your words and he feels happy that his song could help you in any sort of way. Chan gets shy and blushes a little as he struggles what to say next 

"I'm speechless, I'm glad that our song helped you with your struggles" he says with a smile.

You guys walk in peaceful silence until you reach your apartment building and say goodbyes.


	7. a 'normal' day in Hongdae

[The Following Week]

Finally after a week, all JYP artists and staff have their day off, on one of the best days of the week, Saturday! You and Sua decide to spend the day at Hongdae, where you can shop for more clothes and see buskers. You both arrive at Hongdae, the familiar scent wafted over to you, memories started to flash back. Memories of coming here with the trainees, you smile at the happy memories. You hope to make new ones with your new life.

You guys are walking towards your favorite type of clothing store, a thrift shop. You have a hobby of buying alot of clothing and tailoring it into something more fashionable. As you walk, you feel somebody's arm around you and Sua. You smell some alchohol. Your heart pounds faster and your breathing gets irregular as you push off those guy's hands off your shoulders. You grab Sua's hand and shout "get away from us or we'll report you!" to those guys. Onlookers give a piercing stare to those guys as they scamper down the sidewalk. You hold onto Sua's hand as your breathing and heart rate slows. You look over at Sua and she has the same piercing expression. You knew if Sua took over the situation she might've ended up punching the guy.

You finally reach the store and buy alot of clothes that obviously won't fit you both, but will serve as something useful later. Since thrift stores are pretty cheap you still have money left over to buy street food. You get a cheese corndog with some tteokbokki while Sua gets Fishcake with Kimchi. 

[Chan's POV]

Chan and Minho are walking around Hongdae to shop at some trendy stores and obviously, eat alot of delicious street food. Chan sees a familiar person walking across the side walk from him. He realizes it's actually Y/N with a friend. But then, in an instant, he spots two men wrap their arms around Y/N and their friend. Chan stops walking and signals Minho to stop as well. Chan tries to make his way towards you as he sees you push off the dudes' arm and yell at him. He's suprised that somebody as innocent looking like you, has some fierceness. His face heats up, but he doesn't know why. He and Minho walk back to the store as Minho starts teasing him because of his red face. Chan thinks "wow, she's more interesting and unique than I thought". 

[Minho's POV]

Minho looks at the girl with Y/N and observes her face as her smile changes into an annoyed glare aimed towards the strange men approaching. Minho gets a bad feeling and tries to make his way over. He notices how her fists are clenched. Minho and Chan back away as they see Y/N taking care of the situation. H. He looks over to Chan and sees that Chan's face has turned red. Minho laughs to himself a little. "is it possible that Chan hyung already has a crush on y/n after walking her home and seeing her now?" He teases Chan about his blushing face, as Chan's ears also get red.


	8. Oneshots

So you and chan are becoming really close friends over the years. The next 2 chapters will be some memorable moments that will bring you two closer together.


	9. Self reflection

Check out the chapters that I will post next


	10. Karaoke

After a long day of work, you and Chan decide to go to karaoke. Karaoke is literally the best in Korea, you used to go with Sua when you were trainees. You and Chan were looking forward to karaoke. You and Chan are becoming closer and you both decide to go to karaoke after work. You both really enjoy singing so this is the perfect way to spend time together. 

This is the first time both of you are actually alone while hanging out. Chan is really excited and anticipating to hear your singing, and he suggests that you should pick a song first (like the gentleman he is). You pick Girls Generation's song "Into the new world" since it's your favorite song and you have a feeling that he'll pull it off.

As expected Chan does pull it off the song well, as you stare at him in fascination. His voice is very unique and you want to hear it forever. Chan feels the same way when you start singing. He looks at you as if hearts were coming out of his eyes. Two hours have passed and both of you head out the door.


	11. The Hidden Struggle of Music

You are in your studio; struggling to write lyrics for the melody you just made. The feeling of anxiety and frustration washes over you, the deadline marching over you. You lack inspiration, of course, the last few weeks were quite stressful, you were constantly grinding your hours for more music. Being overworked made you feel, tired, of course, and obviously you weren't in a good state of mind. 

Writing music for ITZY wasn't a struggle in the beginning, because your confidence and our personality was shown in their music. But ask yourself, how could you be able to write a song about confidence and self love when you currently don't have any?

You are a person who, when stuck in a dilemma, starts to overthink the situation. Overthinking isn't easy to break but can be harmful to your anxiety. You started having some really concerning thoughts about this. You kept on questioning your future, and your passion for music. Questions like "What if I lost my passion for music? Then my life and career would be over." As impossible as these questions sound, you keep repeating them in your head, like some sort of sick game. 

The moment, the exact moment you were just about to leave the studio, the person who didn't even think you'd see at this hour appears. Yes, this person is the one and only Bang Chan. You look at him in confusion and he stares back in concern. 

"um, hi?" you say to chan. 

"hey" Chan responds with. Both you and Chan look tired as fuck. 

"Why are you here so late, Channie? Aren't you supposed to be sleeping?" 

"Actually, I have insomnia, so I cant sleep" Chan responds.

"oh" you say awkwardly, not knowing what to say next. 

"I actually came to see if I could walk you home, y/n it's not safe for you to walk home this late" Chan responds with a faint smile.

For the first time today you feel some emotion, as some redness creeps onto you cheeks and warms your heart. You feel warm because Chan yet again, is being the gentleman he is, you couldn't wish for a better friend than him. The word friend and Chan in the same sentence doesn't seem right to you. You want him to be your- nevermind, there's no way you'd date someone who works with you.

You start packing up as Chan helps you put your writing journals into your bag. You stand up and head out the door with Chan and out of the building. You and Chan are awfully quiet during the walk. It's not an awkward quiet either, more like a shared silence, a sweet silence. As you approach your apartment building, Chan says "whenever you feel uninspired the best thing you can do is rest". You look at him surprised. 

"how did you know I was uninspired"

"you just reminded me of myself, you just looked really tired" Chan looks at you and giggles a bit. You giggle too.

"the members always told me to get sleep, but I never could, but YOU can" 

You weren't sure if you could laugh now, because instead of a playful feeling, the only thing you felt was your heartstrings gently tugging at Chan's genuineness and utter care for you.


	12. His Live Stream

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> chan's weekly vlives :)

You spend your off day at home, of course, wearing your pajamas with these cute socks on; cuddling your blanket, sitting on the sofa all while scrolling through Instagram. You got a notification for a live stream and the title said "Chan's Room" indicating that it was a Chan livestream.

You join the live and see Chan radiating that positive energy and adorable vibes through the screen. It seemed impossible to you that a human being could be so naturally adorable, you just wanted to reach through the screen and give him a hug (don't we all?). 

He also looked extremely adorable, with his hoodie and beanie on. You currently were blushing and smiling at your phone for the whole live. This livestream was a different experience for you. Chan gave you therapist vibes, because stay was sharing their concerns and Chan was responding with meaningful advice. You found Chan to be caring and selfless, he used his personal time to talk with his fans. He truly is such a caring human being. 

Your heart starts to pound faster at the thought of him. Something about him being caring and wise is really attractive to you. You have never met someone like him before. He is one of a kind. Yes, indeed your face is a bright red. You started to realize something:

"is this me forming a crush on Chan?"


	13. Warm Heartache

You promised yourself that you wouldn't fall in love with a co-worker, but it was getting to hard to block out those thoughts. It's about time you accept those thoughts and start accepting them as feelings, romantic feelings.

You have been ignoring these feelings of love for the past two years. After all, Chan is a close friend, which means you could risk losing a friend if he didn't feel the same. Besides, Chan is still on his dating ban, you have to repress your feelings for one more year. It was torture to ignore those feelings.

You started to worry, Chan is friends with a lot of people, it would take a miracle for him to like you back. Has he shown any signs that he likes you? He's probably not interested in dating, since he's always working. Work always comes first you thought. You convinced yourself that that was the case. Yet, again your overthinking and insecurities took over you once again. 

Saddened, you grab your phone and order some comfort food: Fried chicken, and sushi. You decide to open some soju. You don't really drink that often, but you decided to drink just this once. You turn on Netflix to watch some K-dramas. The thought of Chan still lingers on your mind.

I'm in love with a guy who I have no chances with, and nobody will ever make me feel complete like he does.

Your heart squeezes at the thought, but no tears form, you're just left with heartache.

no tears left to cry

The doorbell rings, and you pick up the food and sit down on the couch.

As you munch on the delicious food, you slowly start to feel better, of course, it's called comfort food for a reason. You drink some soju and drain the bottle in minutes. Drinking soju to fill the hole in your heart. 

In a snap, the two bottles of soju are gone. You start to feel dizzy and suddenly emotional. You start to tear up, and tears are flowing out of your eyes like a waterfall. Like all of your emotions that you repressed are flowing out of your eyes. You start sobbing, crying over Chan. You just keep crying. You cry for at least an hour. After crying you get a headache and you stumble into the bathroom to wash your face.

Your eyes look red and puffy. You have a headache. You feel sleepy. 

You make your way onto your bed and take a nap. You dream of you listening to music with Chan at his studio and holding hands. Oh how you wished it was reality. His hands felt strong, warm, and you felt safe. You woke up with a headache, and muscle pain. 

You decide to change and put on some makeup to go to the convenience store to buy some hangover medicine and maybe some junk food.

You walk into the convenience store and look for the hangover medicine. The convenience store door opens, and you hear some familiar voices. The voices belong to Chan, Minho, and Felix. You heart speeds up and you suddenly feel dizzy. You hope that they don't recognize you. 

You feel a tap on your shoulder and sure enough, Chan was behind you. You can't help but notice his outfit that he's wearing. He's wearing those sleeveless athletic shirts with a beanie. I mean, he always wears those, but he always looks

He smiles as he says hi and you say hi back.

Your heart is probably pounding at 100 miles per hour. Chan seems to notice your red, watery eyes. 

"y/n, are you okay" 

"yeah, I'm fine Chan" you say with the most unconvincing smile.

You don't want to tell him that you were drinking, because he might ask why. But it's too late, because Chan spots the Hangover medicine and realizes the situation. He looks at you, and your face is flushed red. He probably assumes that your watery eyes are just because of a hangover.

Chan starts to laugh quietly to himself.

"there's nothing to be embarrassed about y/n"

"oh..." you say awkwardly as you let out a small chuckle.

You look away bashfully and your cheeks turn red.

Chan finds you adorable when you're shy.

"Hyung!" Felix yells from the other side. Presumably because they finished shopping. You both look at each other as chan says: "bye y/n, see you tomorrow, get home safe".

"bye" you say with a small wave. The boys walk out of the store as Minho nudges Chan and laughs. Minho probably saw all of that. 

You feel shocked and flustered but also warm, being with him made you warm.


	14. Anti Pity Party

Vacation was nearly over, and you were scrolling through tiktok, just chilling, when a tiktok video appeared on your for you page where the person was doing a motivational video about how you should stop feeling sad about being single and instead harness "bad bitch vibes".

This really kind of flipped a switch on your mind, you started to remember the y/n you were before your intense feelings for Chan started. The y/n in the past ( last year) was a bad bitch, you genuinely stopped giving a flying fuck about what people would think of you and you simply had that ✨power walk✨. ITZY's songs are about being different and being yourself while maintaining boss energy. Like you made music that directly reflected your personality. Its about time, you thought, to stop dwelling on a worry and stand up and do something exciting for once.


End file.
